Mid Encounter
by Koragg
Summary: What happens to little DG and the Royal Adviser during those 15 unacounted for years? DG grows up in the Inner Zone and Ambrose has to tred a thin line.
1. Chapter 1

Mid Encounter

Chapter 1: So Far Away

The darkness pressed determinedly against the two figures pushing boldly through it. Wrapped head to foot in cloaks the queen led her youngest daughter away.

"Mom," came DG's confused voice, " Why do I have to leave?"

Still moving the queen replied in a choked whisper, "It is no longer safe for you, my child. You have to go somewhere where the dark can't reach you."

DG stumbled on after her mother and could only reply with a small "oh"

Soon after they stopped in a small clearing to rest. The moon and they stars lit up the sky, drawing the princess's attention.

" I hope Ambrose will be ok without me." she quietly said as she kept her eyes on the glittering blanket above her.

………………………………...

Eight Years Later:

………………………………...

Ambrose shifted through the papers on his desk with tired, fumbling hands. Just to much was happening. Azkadellia was trying to take over the throne, military units were defecting, casualties left and right……..

His thoughts soared back to those days all that time ago----- He shook his head vigorously. Not now. Not with all this work and all those people counting on him to come up with some plan or invention to save them.

The Advisor started reading a urgent document from an undercover source and his eyes wavered and crossed.

How long has it been since he had slept? That had become one of the many things he could never answer.

Ambrose rubbed his eyes, hoping to erase the tiredness residing there.

"_You should sleep more."_

He spun around and faced the empty room. That had been…..DG's voice He must really be losing it, because she was……..

A sharp pain in his chest ripped open the still fresh wound in his heart.

N-no. he has to finish this, do his job. He picked the previous document up again, reading how Azkadellia plans to-

His vision blurs, but not from tiredness.

The door slammed open and he quickly wiped his face on his sleeve and turned around.

"Your Majesty, I'm sorr-"

The eldest princess stood in the doorway with a smirk.


	2. Chapter 2

Mid Encounter

Chapter 2

"Hello, Ambrose," she said, entering his quarters, closely follow by two burly longcoats.

"A-Azkadellia." he breathed, "How did you get in?"

He himself had helped come up with the tighter security levels around the palace that had been in effect since she had changed for the worst over eight years ago. Apparently they didn't help at all.

"Never mind how," her green eyes dug into his, " I came to ask your help in something."

The Advisor did not reply, but had the information he just read searing across his mind. He knew what she wanted.

The eldest princess read his face clearly, "It seems you already know what I seek."

She walked over to one on the project-covered tables and ran her hand over the delicate objects. Ambrose just watched, not moving to stop her though he wanted to.

Azkadellia smiled sweetly and spoke in an equally sweet voice, "You always were so brilliant with gadgets and I have yet to met your equal."

He flinched unnoticeably for he could see through her act and could detect the venom underneath. She was trying to win him over to get the plans.

The raven-haired teen came close to him, close enough that he could seen the individual lines of her eyeliner, "But you see, I have a problem and one of the things you have made could help me," She continued in her false voice, "I'm asking you. Will you help me?"

Ambrose looked down at her, remaining silent, but thinking in high gear. If he refused she would probably sic her longcoats on him, but if he pretended to go along……..

Pretending like he had given in, he lowered his eyes and nodded.

"Good," Azkadellia replied in her normal voice, "That was a smart choice. Now go and get it."

Still acting as best as he could, he scurried out of the room and down the hall.

With a slight frown she turned to the longcoats, "Follow him"


	3. Chapter 3

Mid Encounter

Chapter 3

Ambrose walked at a quick pace down the palace corridor toward the room containing the sun seeder. The blueprints had been left there earlier after he had ran a system check on it.

_Hurry, hurry, hurry, hurry _his heart beat franticly against his thin chest.

The advisor took a deep, shaky breath as the door came into sight , then froze.

A pair of footsteps were coming down the hall after him, from the direction of his lab.

For a brief moment he kept completely still and the echoing steps stopped just around the corner……..

Azkadellia's Longcoats. Making sure he was doing what he should. Ambrose slipped inside the door as quickly and as quietly as possible and locked it behind him, hoping to slow them down long enough to complete his plan.

The fire place nearby, he noted immediately, was full of life.

"Good, good." he muttered lightly under his breath as he went over to an old wooden desk buried a foot deep in papers. He dug a moment in monstrous pile and found what had been hidden, a tightly rolled handful of parchment.

"Aha!" he whispered triumphfully--suddenly a loud thump came from the only door, making him drop it, then another one, louder.

They were breaking down the door and already a crack had appeared in the worn door.

In a single fluid motion Ambrose scooped up the only written instructions for his Sun seeder project and flung them into the heart of the devouring flame.

Another shattering blow to the thin wood and his head turned toward it.

One last attack and the door gave in, the longcoats filled the room, but it was all in vain.

For the only signs that their target had been there was the charred remains of something in the fireplace and the curtains blowing gently in the breeze coming from the open window.


	4. Chapter 4

Mid Encounter

Chapter 4

He landed hard on the warm ground, knocking the air from his lungs. Next time he would request a room on a lower floor.

In the room above, the door gave way with a loud crack, sending splinters flying everywhere. The half a dozen Longcoats traipsed inside and found the blueprints already blackened and shriveling.

"_Well, maybe they won't look out the window" _He thought as he lay still, trying to get his air back.

The dark shaved head of the captain poked out of the window.

"_He's gonna look down now isn't he?" _

Sure enough……

"There he is!" the Captain yelled.

Ambrose rolled to his feet quickly and sprinted down the path hugging the wall, the tails of his uniform waving behind him.

"_This is not going well" _He thought as he heard a thud behind him as a longcoat landed on the ground solidly.

"_I must warn the queen"_

He hung a sharp right at the edge of the palace, forgot about the small potted plant that happened to sit at said corner, tripped and stumbled over the next five yards, miraculously not falling over.

There was a flash of silver in the garden. The Queen was sitting by the small pond, holding a book of some sort but not reading it. Her newly gray hair catching a ray of sunlight.

Ambrose took a quick glance back at his pursuers, they had stopped as soon as the Queen has came into sight. The first Longcoat, the captain, motioned to the others and they smoothly faded into the shadow of the palace.

The Advisor slowed his breathing and put on a calm face, he didn't want to upset her, even though the news he carried most certainly would.

He clasped his slender hands behind his back, approached, and knelt down beside her.

"You majesty I bring bad news." he started, head bowed slightly. "The forth brigade has fallen and London has defected."

Her face was shocked, "But he was our most loyal friend."

"I'm so sorry." he said quietly " There's no law other than Azkadilla's."

Ambrose allowed himself a small smile, " She tried to steal the plans to the sun seeder but I was able to destroy the blue prints."

She placed her small pale hand on his arm worriedly. "She'll come after you Ambrose."

He nodded blankly, brief smile fading away, then looked up into her lavender eyes. " Is there nothing you can do to stop her, your Majesty?"

"Too late," the queen said sadly, "The darkness is too deeply rooted in her."

"But your light!" Ambrose pressed hopefully, "You are the most powerful being in the O.Z."

"Was, my old friend." She said sadly turning back toward the pond "I gave my power and my light to save someone one very special to me." She paused and added in a whisper, "..my angel."

Ambrose's brown eyes widened. Her angel. Does that mean she's still alive?! DG. Alive…

A loud parade of approaching footsteps, snapped him to attention. Looking up he saw the eldest princess of the O.Z leading a group of ten or more of her longcoats toward them.

The Advisor stood, moving a bit in front of the Queen "Show your Respect!" he declared to raven-haired girl now a few feet away.

Azkadellia paid him no mind and cheerfully stated "The Queen's reign ends today.'

She arose slowly then, silver hair sparkling in the mid-day sun, and placed a slender hand on Ambrose's chest, to move him behind her.

"Do you have any idea what you are doing?" She asked, looking down slightly at her mostly grown daughter.

"I do," she replied sweetly with a bit of a smile. "You need a long rest, mother. Take her away." she commanded and three of her longcoats assorted the older lady away.

"And take him to the Alchemist,"

Two tall men seized him roughly by the arms.

She leaned in closer, "If you won't tell me what you know, I guess I'll just have to reach in and take it myself."

**AN: Aww poor Ambrose, we all know what is coming next. Sorry, but I edited a bit of the words at the end there. Review if you want another chapter. XD**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN:** Thank you: Angela1150, Anna Sheridan, and BlackButterflyPrincess for reviewing to the last chapter. It made me feel gulity enough to write more. XD. Yes, I know my chapters are short and I am very sorry about that, I am trying to get better. Please Review if you want more.

Mid Encounter

Chapter 5: Losing Oneself

Two Longcoats marched him at a quick pace down the hall. Each of them had a good grip on his upper arms, tight enough that the blood was being cut off painfully.

He stared ahead blankly at the red double doors coming ever closer, unable to think up an escape, a loophole, anything at all.

His brilliant mind that had solved near every problem he had ever faced, failed him completely now. Leaving him in the dark. Alone.

The doors swung open to admit them to the white, sterile room. The men pulled him roughly onto the surgical table in the middle, holding him down and securing the many straps across his legs, chest and arms. His head was forced still as more straps crossed his chin and his forehead.

Sometime while this was happening, he faintly realized he was saying the same thing over and over in a dull, helpless voice, "Please. Please don't. Please."

"Remove the brain slowly," came a cold voice, and a hairless man in white came into view with a surgical knife. "Count back from one hundred"

"Please." Ambrose pleaded desperately, "Please don't do this. Please don't. Please."

A needle pricked his arm, and he could feel the liquid entering his veins.

"99, 98, 97..." the voice started.

"N-no," barley came out of his lips, the room was starting to blur and his eyes were getting heavier by the second.

"….96, 95, 94.…"

Darkness was pressing in and he knew he had failed.

Failed the Queen. Failed the O.Z. Failed DG.

His dark brown eyes slid shut, and he started slipping away.

Maybe it would be a blessing.

Total ignorance if he lived, just another headcase among hundreds. No memory of his life. Gone forever.

Right before he fell unconscious, a tear escaped his closed eyes, rolling down his pale face.

Nothing will be the same.

Then again, perhaps it would be a curse.


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's note: sorry this has been sitting on my computer for a while and I had very slowly been working on it. I had dropped out of tin man and into anime and stuff, but I kept seeing favorites and reviews and sure enough that drug me off of by lazy butt long enough to post this for you. please review if you still want more**

Mid Encounter

Chapter ?

…_What is that smell?…..I've smelt it before…._

He forced his eyes open, and started to panic for all he saw was darkness. His breath was coming in quickened gasps by the time he turned his head upward to the sky.

Still, the pure velvet blackness met him.

He lifted his hands to his face and felt cold, thin objects against his skin. He jumped.

_What was that? ….Was_ _that my hands?_

He slowly tried again and the cold things returned. "Yep…Yep….Yep….. That's them."

He froze. Now was that really _his_ voice? Had it always been that horse and cracked?

He couldn't remember. Matter of fact he couldn't remember anything. Who he was. Where he was. Maybe he had always been blind.

A deep guttural growl came from nearby.

He snapped his head that way, holding his breath. Whatever it was, it sure did soon hungry.

The thought of food made his own stomach growl, "oh, I guess I hungry, what do I eat? Do I like apples, or pears? Do I like apples or pears? Do I like apples or pears?" he sat on the cold ground repeating himself without realizing it, "do I like apples or pears? Do I lik-"

He was snapped out of his glitch by a painful hit to his side. The blow knocked him back, and his breath hitched in his throat. Whatever had hit him let out a deep roar, and swiped at him again.

This time when he hit the ground his sense of self preservation kicked in, The lost, blind man rolled to the right a few yards, and pushed himself up. He started to run forward, but something strong and sharp wrapped around a foot and drug him back down again.

He flailed his thin body trying to get loose.

Suddenly, a lot of pressure bore down on his chest making it almost impossible to breathe, he gasped shallowly, faintly taking in a mixture of musk, and earthy type odor. His scrapped uselessly against the furry thing with his fingers.

As his breath depleted he thought "_I am about to die! I can't die, I don't even know who I am! Would anyone miss me? I don't want to d-"_

He knew no more.

…...

The loud bell rang, and a few children scampered off quickly to class.

Except one.

The little girl holding her mother's hand looked around the strange place with big, curious blue eyes.

The woman, who had wavy brown hair that fell around her shoulders and a gentle, slightly worn face, looked down at the child with a kind smile.

" Come on, DG. Let's go meet your new classmates."

DG nodded, still clinging and looking around, and followed her mother into the small bland building.


	7. Chapter 7

Author's note: I'm Back! Thank you every one that reviewed, this is your reward. Bookworm gal, NIssa, and Karisilver, you three are the reason I got around to posting this one, thanks. Guilt works! The real reason I took so long to post this chapter was I had a major writer's block and after a year, it was still like pulling teeth to write it. -.-' Ok, well you know the drill, want more please review!

Mid Encounter

Chapter 7: Fear and Identity

"What is wrong with your eyes? They are so weird!" The third grade boy with glasses said to the little kindergarten girl who was sitting on a swing alone during recess.

"Weird?" the red haired boy nearby laughed, " She's a freak! No one has blue eyes that bright." he leans over to her level "What are your parents? Aliens?"

She lowered her head till her chin touched her chest and her black hair fell like curtains on either side of her pale face. She bit her lower lip tightly, trying hard not to cry, as the boys laughed and continued to taunt her.

DG wanted to go home. School was horrible. The other kids were mean like these boys, or just ignored her completely. Maybe Mommy would let her stay home and not come back. She would even help out on the farm and with the cleaning!

The monotone sound of the bell rang across the playground and all the kids ran back to the small brick school.

"Why don't you go back to where you came from Freak?" the boys yelled with laughter as they ran to get in line.

She sniffed and rubbed her eyes with a scrawny arm. She wanted to disappear.

…...

_Creak. Creak. Creak. _

"_What is that noise?" _

He was staring at the straw ceiling of a small shack. He blinked, not even remembering opening his eyes. "_Where am I_?"

_Creak. Creak. Creak._

"Hey, ragman, are you awake now?" a small voice suddenly asked almost right next to him.

"AHH!" the headcase yelped and jumped away in surprise. His back pressed up against a straw wall, and he stared a the small person thing, staring right back at him.

It looked human but it was about three feet tall, and it appeared that leaves and tree bark made up it's clothing. And it had stringy brown hair that was half as long as it was.

"You look weird. You look weird. You look weird. You look weird. You look w-"

_Smack! "_Will you quit that?." The munchkin growled, lowering her small fist she had whacked in the side of the head with, " I am not weird! If anyone here is, I'd have to say it's you." She crossed her arms, looking at him in annoyance.

He looks up at her with a puzzled expression. "Do I know you? And if I do, can you tell me who I am?" He gives a goofy grin, "because to tell the truth I really don't know."

The female munchkin uncrosses her arms, now looking at him is disbelief. "Wow, they really messed you up, didn't they? Most Zippermen we run into at least know their own names."

He tilts his head, still puzzled and looking more than a little bit like a lost puppy.

She sighs and sits down a few feet in front of him. "My name is Ziz," she puts her hand to her own chest, and talking to him like she would speak to a small child "I am a munchkin, from the oak tribe. You are in our village because we ran off a bear that was attacking you. We brought you back here to patch you up. I don't know who you are. If it helps any, we found you in the forest closest to the Royal city."

He blinks and looks down at himself for the first time.

He sees a skinny body with cloth bandages wrapped around the waist and both shins. The clothes he is wearing are torn up and shabby looking.

"_So that is where she got ragman_." he thinks causally to himself as he picks up a string of gold trimming between his thumb and forefinger.

"So a bear attacked me? A bear attacked me? A bear attacked me? A bear att-"

She whacks him again.

He blinks and smiles at her " Hello! Have we met? My name is …" the smile fades from his face. "who I am?"

Ziz rubs a hand over her face, " You glitch up, then you reset yourself. How are you even still alive? This is ridiculous."

The headcase watches her spicily "Glitch?"

" Yeah, glitch. You know when you repeat the same thing?"

He looks at her with a straight face for a few seconds, then a big friendly smile spreads over his thin, pale face.

"Hi! The name's Glitch, nice to meet you!"


	8. Chapter 8

Mid Encounter

Chapter 8

When the small yellow school bus pulled up in front of the long dirt road leading to the old farmhouse, the small, blacked haired girl leapt out of the door before it was even opened all the way and ran as hard as she could down the road toward home.

She opened the front door, dropped her small blue backpack on the wooden floor and bolted up the stairs, ignoring the 'welcome home' and the questions from her mom. She locked her bedroom door and ran to her bed, burying her white face into the pillow, hiding the tears already coming.

After a few minutes DG sat up and wiped the wetness off of her face with the backs of her hands. She didn't want to cry. That would mean that those mean boys at school would have won in making her feel bad. She wasn't gonna cry!

She looked around her small room. The tilted bare wood walls, the window looking out over the field, her small dresser, and the bed she was sitting on. It wasn't much. She goes over to the dresser and pulls the pad of blank paper off the top. She could draw! That would distract her.

The blue eyed girl smiled slightly to herself and flopped back down on the bed with the paper and a box of crayons, making the old bed groan a little.

"Hm what should I draw?" she asked herself, then she shrugs and starts to draw. Not sure what she is going to draw, but just letting her hand roam across the page.

She hums while she draws and in a few minutes she lifts up her masterpiece to examine it.

It looks like a large domed ceiling room with huge windows and an floor with nothing on it.

The five year old pauses, looking at her creation. She felt like she had seen this place before…..

She thinks about it, puzzled, then remembers that movie she watched the other day with her parents, The Beauty and the Beast. That must have been it! They did dance in a beautiful ballroom that looked kinda like this.

Dg giggled to herself happily and stood up, putting her arms out in front of her, imaging holding on to a tall prince like figure with brown hair, yeah she liked brown hair. She closed her eyes and swirled around. It almost seemed like she was there. Wearing a beautiful dress, hearing the music, feeling the warmth of larger hands holding hers…..

KNOCK, KNOCK!

She jumped, opening her eyes.

"DG!," Her mother's soft voice came muffled through the door. "Honey, if you had a bad day we can talk about it, ok? Now unlock the door DG."

DG sighed, her fantasy world was gone and the real world had returned.

She opened the door, letting her mother in, and forgot all about the familiarity of the dance.

**AN: Hey! Here it is! Yay. Ok, I know I promised it a lot sooner and I am sorry, I had forgot about the chapter 7 I had posted because it magically disappeared from my computer so I was rewriting it. -.-' oh well, thank you for reviewing to the last chapter and to my other stories. I am running low on ideas right now, so I apologies for the future. If you want chapter 9 please review people! (Glitch will be in ch 9)**


	9. Chapter 9: Found then Lost

**Mid Encounter**

**Chapter 9: Found Then Lost**

"No Ziz. No matter how much you ask, that zipperhead you found can't help with this task" the older tribe member told her once again with a frown pasted on his face.

Ziz sighed and moved to the side on the rope bride so he could take his basketful of gatherings to the storehouse. It was turning colder and that meant that all of her village was collecting everything eatable and getting ready for the time of the white ground.

Dodging around busy people, the small munchkin returned to her straw hut. There she found the guest she had found over two moon cycles ago (AN: 2 months) He was trying to weave a basket out of dried reeds like she had taught him earlier, but was failing miserably.

Ziz leaned quietly against the wall made of rope and bark and watched him with interest. His nimble fingers could do the correct motions well enough and that wasn't the reason he was having problems. Glitch would do a few steps, freeze up for a second, and then start again with the wrong step. The poor basket looked like a lopsided bird nest instead of a neat, functional basket.

The zipperhead suddenly paused and looked at his handiwork with such an expression of bewilderment that she couldn't help but burst out laughing.

He jumped in surprise, dropping the knotted bundle of reeds, but as soon as he saw it was her, a grin lit up his pale face.

"Ziz! HI! I was working on a basket. I was working on a basket. I was working on a basket." The skinny man said the sentence in the exact same way, then continued on, unaware of his glitch, "doesn't look good at all though, does it?" he smiled a goofy smile, and rubbed the back of his messy, uncombed, head.

She stepped over and picked the thing up in her small hands, turning it this way and that. "It's ok for a beginner, Glitch; you will get better if you keep working on it."

Though, in all truth, she knew that would be highly unlikely to happen.

**OZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZ**

Maybe he could get better at making…making…what? Oh! That's right, a basket.

The tatterly dressed young man's forehead scrunched up in confusion.

Why was he trying to make a basket? He glanced blankly out of the low-built doorway and saw a bunch of little people carrying all kinds of stuff around like ants at an anthill.

"_Oh!'"_ He thought to himself, suddenly remembering. The little person here had said something this morning about her tribe-people-munchkins getting ready for winter! _'That's it! Should I be helping? I think I should…" _

Glitch gave a short guilty laugh, and looked down at his friend of short stature.

"How rude of me! Stetting here being useless while everyone has so much to do!" a smile lit up his face; "I'll go out and help now!"

He hurried ducked out of the short doorway and out into the busy village before Ziz could say a word.

"Glitch!" she yelled after he had already disappeared, "Come back here!"

**OZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOOZOZO**

Immediately after running out of the hut, Glitch had crashed into a couple of munchkins making the baskets of supplies they were carrying to fall over a hundred or so feet directly to the forest floor below. Now he was down there picking it all up.

"There is some to your left." Ziz directed him from above. "Other left, Glitch."

One of the lookouts stationed even further up the trees suddenly yelled "Longcoats! Headed this way!"

Longcoats? Askadilla's henchmen were much more brutal than before since she had taken over the palace.

Everyone was rushing around, draping camouflaged nets over the walkways and the brighter roofs of the huts. The village among the treetops was quickly blending in completely.

After helping for a few minutes, Ziz remembered the ZIpperhead was still on the ground. She quickly ran back to the railings and looked below and spotted him immediately. He was staring up at them, his head tilted sideways in confusion.

"Hurry and get back up here, Glitch!" she yelled at him.

He glanced around, then turned his face back up to her.

"How?"

Ziz gave a growl of frustration. "The ladder of course you idiot!"

Once more he looked around him at the bare barks of the trees.

"There are no ladders, Ziz."

She froze. She wasn't thinking. Of course all the ladders had been rolled up, and stored at the top securely. The small girl heard the sounds of sticks and leaves crunching under the boots of the approaching Longcoats. They were almost here. What would they do to him, when they found him all alone in the forest?

"Run."

"What did you say Ziz?"

"Run! Glitch, Run as fast as you can away from here now!" she firmly told him in as loud of a voice as she dared.

He blankly looked at her.

"NOW GLITCH! RUN!"

Just as the longcoats appeared over the hill, the former advisor to the queen turned and ran like his feet were on fire.

**OZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZOZ **

Yells and the sounds of pursuit followed him.

The shredded remains of his once elegant garb flew around him furiously as he dashed madly away.

The word RUN was lit up in what was left of his mind, becoming the only thing there.

_Run, run, run, run, run, run, run, run. Must get away. Must keep running…..RUN_

He dodged in and out of the bare trees, jumped lightly over a fallen log. His heart pounded hard in his thin chest. Breath burning lungs from the cooler air.

Something whizzed past his head, smashing into a tree. His rapidly tireding body, pushed itself even harder.

An explosion of pain erupted in his right shoulder, causing him to lose his footing and fall down a slick leaf covered slope. He tumbled down violently head over foot, each time the injured shoulder hit, the pain increased dramatically. Then the slope ended mercilessly in a drop several yards down.

He landed hard. Every part of his thin body hurting horribly. His damaged mind started drifting in and out. The world above him spinning and blurring.

The darkness claimed him.

Then.

There was a voice.

Small. Familiar.

"_Ambrose?"_

**Author's Note****: Hey! This is my holiday gift to you! ^.^ I believe I am only going to write one more chapter for this story and go ahead and end it. However, Second Encounter is still not close to being finished. I am so sorry for not updating regularly for Mid Encounter and Second Encounter over the years and I hope you forgive me. **


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